J904 DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES. 15 



tions cannot be other than salutary. The passing of this fish is an exemplification ot 

 what may be expected as the result of unrestricted capture and destruction. It was so 

 plentiful a few years ago as to be practically of no market value, but it has decreas- 

 ed so rapidly as to be the highest priced of our commercial fishes. 



Fishways, 

 Though the general question of the requirement of fishways in dams is, as the law at 

 present stands, one for the consideration of the Dominion Department, instructions 

 have been given by the Commissioner for the erection of fishways in two dams, the pro- 

 perty of the Province, in which it was made clear that their erection was desirable 

 and proper. The principal fact which has to be borne in mind, or ascertained, when 

 these recommendations are made, is that a roadway will not be provided for the en- 

 trance of worthless fish into waters in which under existing conditions only choice 

 varieties are to be found, if but in small numbers. Should such a result be likely to 

 follow, it would be better to transplant a few paiis of parent fish from adjacent or near 

 wa'ers. which, with proper protection, would soon populate those above the dam. 



Pollution From Sawdust and Other Causes. 

 Reierring to the injurious effects of sawdust on fish life, as to which conflicting 

 opinions are expressed by 'fish culturists, a writer fin a recent number of " Forest and 

 Stream " points out that one of the first difficulties which fish culturists had to over- 

 come in the artificial propagation of trout was the deleterious effects of the fungus 

 growth that always appeared in the troughs and boxes in which the eggs were hatohed, 

 espc daily where .these were manufactured out of new lumber ; and he makes the 

 emphatic statement that this fungus is so deadly to the eggs that if a million were 

 to be put into green lumber troughs, not a single egg would mature. He very per- 

 tinently remarks that if the exposed surface of a hatching trough could be the primary 

 mean> of such deadly consequences, what a vaster power for injury there must bt 

 in sawdust, in which form the exposed surfaces of the wood are multiplied almost in- 

 definitely. If his contentions are well founded, the effect of throwing tons of sawdust 

 every year upon the spawning beds, ot where it will float and lodge upon the spawn- 

 ing beds below, must be most disastrous. In his opinion it is this fungus alone that 

 destroys the young fish that are exposed to it, and not that mortality occurs by the 

 sawdust becoming fixed in the gills during inhalation, as is generally supposed. What- 

 ever ground there may be for a difference of opinion on the subject, it is well known 

 that fish will abandon waters, the beds of which have become covered with this re- 

 fuse. The practice of lumbermen of permitting sawdust to enter the water 

 as the most convenient and inexpensive means of getting rid of it, is in some places 

 still persisted in, notwithstanding the very severe penalties provided for the offence 

 Repeated warnings have been given, and preparations in a number of cases for making 

 other disposition of the refuse, are, we are glad to find, under way. 



A number of complaints have been (received during the year as to the pollution 

 of waters by the refuse from sugar factories. The attention of the parties has been 

 called to the subject, and a system of settling basins and filters, which it is hoped will 

 sufficiently eliminate the deleterious matter to render it perfectly harmless, has been 

 recommended. The subject is receiving the close attention of the Department. 



Leases of Lakes. 



Operations under the leases to the Canada Fish Company and the Manitou Fish 

 Company, preparatory to beginning fishing, have been begun Owing to the inac 

 cess'bility of the lakes to railway communication, there has <been great difficulty in 

 petting in material and machinery, and much time has been consumed in this work 

 alone ; but it is understood that considerable sums of money have already been ex- 

 pended by both companies in the construction of roads, docks, boats and scows, and 

 in the e r ection of ice houses, store houses, fish houses, sleeping camps, dwelling houses, 

 stabic, stores, offices, etc., etc. 



